The battle for Anambra Central senatorial seat assumes wider dimension following the likely entry of former Governor Peter Obi into the race, Special Correspondent, OKEY MADUFORO, reports
Two years after staying away from active politics, former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, seems set to return to the battle line, at least, going by his campaign posters that dot strategic locations in Awka, the capital city.
The development, however, did not come to many as surprise, following strong indications that he has interest in the vacant Anambra Central seat in the Senate.
Obi had, incidentally, before now announced that after handing over to Willie Obiano, he would quit active politics and retire to private life.
His volte-face may not have been unconnected with the attendant crisis and confusion over who should take part in the re-run election of the zone following Uche Ekwunife’s sack by the Court of Appeal. The appellate court had ordered a fresh election in the district, following a case instituted against Ekwunife by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for the election, Victor Umeh.
Ekwunife, also curiously, left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for All Progressives Congress (APC), following her ouster by the court. Even in her new party, Ekwunife’s hope of nomination for the election remains shaky.
Obi’s journey in the race on the platform of PDP actually began when he played the face behind the mask in Ekwunife’s initial attempt at picking the ticket of the party for the repeat election. This did not however sail through following Ekwunife’s exit from the party.
That temporarily made Umeh appear coasting to the Senate until a Federal High ruling put on hold the scheduled March 5, 2016 re-run date for the election.
It was on the strength of the court ruling and absence of an identifiable candidate for the PDP in the election that Obi’s interest in the race began to take clearer shape.
Game-changer in the race
Among the former governor’s supporters, his participation in the contest is already being touted as a game-changer for PDP. For a party that has stumbled from one crisis to another in its Anambra chapter, Obi is seen in some quarters as a stabilising force that it urgently needs to put its house in order. Even in the Senate where the party is trailing behind the APC with slim margin, fielding the former governor as its candidate is considered a strategic move in winning at the poll.
In line with this thinking, arrangements are said to have been concluded by respective PDP governors to grace the flag-off and official declaration of Obi’s interest for the job.
Reports from the former governor’s camp, in fact, have it that about 10 governors and their erstwhile colleagues currently in the National Assembly have signalled their intention to storm Nkpor Town near Onitsha for the occasion which would also have in attendance other top chieftains of the party across the country.
It was further learnt that seven candidates of other political parties have already commenced secret campaigns for the former governor as a prelude to collapsing their structures into his campaign organisation.
The Federal High Court through an order asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to include PDP in the list of political parties that would take part in the election as against the commission’s earlier statement baring fresh PDP candidate to participate in the poll.
When contacted, however, Obi’s Media Assistant, Valentine Obienyem, explained that he was not in the position to confirm the position of the PDP governors, but was quick to note that there had been sustained pressure from the PDP leadership in the country, which included the governors, for his boss to make an open declaration to contest the seat.
“I cannot really say exactly that the PDP governors had concluded plans to storm Anambra for Peter Obi. All I know is that the former governor is interested in that seat of Anambra Central District, but he is not desperate about it. He is not ready to fight over it. It is left for the PDP to unanimously endorse him as the candidate of the party and he will most certainly lead the party to victory.”
TheNiche gathered that if the governors are interested in him, that will not be a surprise because he enjoys very cordial relationship with all of them.
Corroborating this source, a group known as Anambra Rainbow Coalition made up of seven political parties told our correspondent that its members were ready to collapse their structures into the former governor’s campaign organisation.
Narth Udensi, coordinator of the coalition, said “this is a mass action and you will soon see the effect. The only person that can give Anambra Central and even Anambra in general effective representation is Peter Obi.
“We are not talking about people that will go there and demand for their own personal interest. We shall be at the rally and we know that the governors will not disappoint us.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission made a statement before now and we are aware of their plans of manipulating the electoral process. That statement is targeted at a candidate going to the Senate without any contest. But we also had our own plans of stopping them.
“Now that our former governor is in the race, we would want to see INEC execute its plans under our nose. Anambra Central District is not a tea party and the election would certainly show where the heartbeat of the people is.”
And the war rages
The contest, it has been estimated, will signal a continuation of the running battle between Obi and Umeh, which had lingered even when the former was in office and the latter, national chairman of APGA.
The last in this encounter was the nomination of Obiano for the 2014 gubernatorial race. Ever since, there has been sustained argument between supporters of the two gladiators over who made who.
National Publicity Secretary of APGA, Ifeatu Obiokoye, told TheNiche that “the former governor cannot pride himself as a self-made man without his national chairman. The party sponsors the candidate. So, he should remain eternally grateful to Umeh for his successes.”
To this end, the Anambra Central seat is not just a battle between PDP and APGA, but also a battle of pride between Umeh and Obi over who made the other.
